The Master of Shadows
by CreatorZorah
Summary: Naruto dies during the 4th Great Ninja War and is reborn as Shikamaru Nara. NOT Slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** NaruAndHarrHaremFan's "**REBORN A NARA**" challenge. I liked the idea and decided to write something... Not sure how far it will go.

_Naruto dies during the 4th Great Ninja War and is reborn as Shikamaru Nara!_

_Preferences/_

_-Naruto retains his memories from his past life. YES_

_-He gains Shikamaru's intelligence YES_

_-He keeps his own work ethic YES_

_-Must befriend new jinchuuriki YES_

_-Must not hold back, but must still graduate as a part of the rookie nine YES_

_-Pairing: any you want, but harem with Ino, Samui, or Hanabi is preferred._ **No harem, sorry :)**

_-whether or not he has any left over chakra from the Kyuubi YES_

Beware, I don't like Naruto, but it's one of the few parts of where one can read something interesting.

* * *

**THE MASTER OF SHADOWS**

**by CreatorZorah**

**Chapter 1**

It was a good warm day, the sun was shining bright and only few puffy clouds above the Konohagakure were slowly moving west. It was a day like any other and it wasn't surprising at all to see young Nara Shikamaru beating the hell out of a training dummy.

"Your son is such a workaholic," Inoichi said leaning with his back on a tree. "The only Nara that doesn't seem to be lazy."

"He's troublesome," Shikaku grunted looking at his son. Even since Shikamaru had turned four and had been allowed to train, the boy turned to an anomaly of the Nara clan.

"Are you sure he's your son and not Gai's?" the blond said with a grin.

"Are you sure that your daughter isn't Namikaze?" Nara asked.

Yamanaka rolled his eyes and said, "Don't remind me. It's a wonder that we don't have the whole village full of blonds. The whole female population seemed to have a crush on the Fourth."

"Nah, _she _was the only woman Minato had his eyes for," Choza Akamichi noted.

Shikaku nodded. "It's a pity they died so young," he said.

"Did you find something out about your son's chakra?" Inoichi asked suddenly.

"No," Shikaku answered with a frown.

He remembered that day like it was yesterday. When Shikamaru had heard about the failed kidnap attempt on Hyuga heiress, his son for some reason had gotten really upset. That had been worrisome enough, since Shikaku jadn't been able to understand the reason behind it. But then Shikamaru had gotten angry and had released some of the fox's chakra. It turned out that his son had lots of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Shikamaru was a pseudo-jinchūriki almost like Sora, whose father inconveniently had gone rogue recently leaving Shikaku without anyone who could tell him more about his son's condition. But the Sora's case was still different, because unlike him, Shikamaru had developed whiskers at _that day_, reminding Shikaku of the infamous Gold and Silver brothers. His son had lot more Kyuubi's chakra than Sora.

The problem was Shikaku was sure that no one could have sealed the tailed beast's chakra inside of his son. Besides, why someone would do something like this? There was no logical reason. The only explanation was spontaneous absorption of the leaked Kyuubi's chakra. And still, he wasn't comfortable with the explanation.

Shikamaru sighed in relief as he noticed that his father and teammates left him alone to train. Kicking the dummy wasn't fun at all. It was useless, since his body was too young to gain some muscles. But he couldn't show his father that he was trying to regain the chakra control. Ever since he hadn't been careful, releasing some of Kyuubi's chakra in front of his father, Shikaku paid him way too much attention.

He felt helpless on that day, knowing about what would happen, but being unable to change anything. Sure he could have just gone to his father to tell him that he was in reality Naruto from the future, that had been somehow sent by some freak accident to the past before he had a chance to die. But he still wasn't sure if he had to say anything about it to Hokage or someone else. He feared that they would do something that would completely sabotage the timeline.

He wasn't even sure if he had to try to keep the timeline as it was. He had to make Konoha stronger. However, he wanted to be the one in control of the changes. Chaotic changes to the timeline could have unpredictable and dangerous consequences.

He failed to save Neji's father, he was too young to do anything, but perhaps he could prevent the slaughter of Uchiha clan. That would definitely make the village stronger. But was it wise? What about the coup? Was there a way to prevent the massacre? It was four years away and he doubted that he could convince the right people to make different choices. The time will tell.

And there was the problem of the other Naruto. In less than a year they both would start the Academy. Shikamaru didn't know how to act around himself. Sure he would befriend him, but it would be troublesome. The boy scowled realizing that he was falling back to typical Nara behaviour and sighed.

His new body wasn't nearly as strong as the previous one. Furthermore, he could tell that considering the amount of chakra he had right now, at the age of twelve his chakra reserves would be around the hundredth of the amount he had once possessed. It was still more than any normal shinobi would have, but much less than he would like to have. Therefore, no Mass Shadow Clone technique anymore. It would waste too much chakra. Though, there was the Kyuubi's chakra he could rely on without losing control.

But there were advantages. He hadn't been able to think this clearly in his old body. He could solve so many problems at the same time. No wonder Shikamaru had been a genius. He knew a lot about Nara Clan techniques now. Shadows were difficult to control and they drained users of their chakra very quickly. And considering that Naras didn't have large reserves, their techniques were quite limited in their use. But Naruto's new body had tons of chakra. He could already imagine things he could do with shadows using the chakra he possessed.

He looked up at the sky and for a few minutes watched clouds that dotted the air. Then he darted to a tree in attempt to climb it using his chakra, but failed and fell down. Yes, first he had to bring his chakra under control. Nara techniques required a very precise control, and of all Nara, Shikamaru would have the greatest problems with controlling chakra. Even as a four-years-old he had more chakra than a lot of his Clan members.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" The voice belonged to Choji, Shikamaru noticed him a while ago. "What are you doing?"

"Training, Choji," he answered.

"Why?" Choji asked munching some snack.

"To grow stronger, to be able to protect our village," Shikamaru explained, knowing that it was useless trying to convince Choji to train along with him. The Akimichi wasn't a prodigy or genius, and it was a difficult concept to grasp for a someone as old as him. Choji wasn't old enough yet to have a reason good enough to get stronger.

"My father thinks it's alright to wait until I start the Academy."

"And he's probably right," Shikamaru said trying to run up the tree again.

Choji looked at him and said, "That's cool. How are you doing that?"

"You have to focus the right amount of chakra to the bottom of your feet to stick to the tree, then you just climb the tree either by running or by going."

"Sounds difficult," the other boy said sitting down on the ground.

Shikamaru fought off a sigh and continued the exercise. He would have the same problem with... Naruto. He hadn't been serious enough until he met Haku and Zabuza. That encounter had shaped him into what he was. Naruto of this time was still an ignorant child. He hoped that when the time would come to go to the Academy, he would be able to shape his friends into what they needed to be.

* * *

**Months later**

* * *

"Checkmate," Shikaku said.

Shikamaru looked at his father. He loved his new family. Sure they were weird, but it was such a great feeling to have someone who loved you and called a son. He glanced at the board and sighed. "Troublesome," he said. "I shouldn't have attacked seventeen moves back."

Father nodded and agreed, "You weren't prepared to attack."

"I'll win the next time," Shikamaru said.

"You've told that the last time we've played too," Father reminded him. "Are you ready for the Academy?"

Shikamaru nodded. He couldn't wait, because his father would begin teaching him the clan techniques. His chakra control was still bad, but the amount of chakra grew a lot and he was sure that there was no one else with a comparable chakra reserve in the village besides him and Naruto.

Of course he tried to use his old techniques. The only way to use Mass Shadow Clone technique like he had been doing it in his previous lifetime was the fox's chakra. He had to avoid using it though. Still, even without the fox's chakra he could create ten shadow clones without any problems. On the other hand he couldn't use Rasengan without the help of a clone again. But having immense reserves of chakra that were constantly growing like mad, made it very difficult for him to perfect the control.

"Don't forget, if something strange happens with your chakra, notify me or your mother immediately," Shikaku said.

"Alright, dad." Shikamaru was annoyed with his father because he wasn't telling him about the fox's chakra. But he knew the reasons and couldn't blame Shikaku for trying to keep him safe.

"Good." Father nodded. "It's late, you have to get a good sleep to have a clear head tommorow."

"Yeah, yeah," he said.

Lying in his bed he closed his eyes and wondered how his second first day of the Academy would go. They wouldn't get a good teacher until the eighth year, when Iruka-sensei would start teaching. Well, he wasn't really fair saying that, as the teacher had been probably good for everyone who hadn't had the name Naruto. Shikamaru didn't even remember what the name of the teacher was.

On the other hand it would be a good opportunity to befriend Naruto. He always wondered how strong he would have been if he had been taught by someone adequate early on. Shikamaru could help him a lot. He sighed. Being Naruto himself, it was so confusing to think about the other Naruto.

But nothing could prepare him to what was waiting for him at the Academy. When he searched the next morning for Naruto at the Academy he couldn't find him anywhere amoung students even though he could clearly remember that he hadn't been too late. But when the pupils began to fill classes he froze before the door, blocking the entrance for the rest of the children.

He couldn't look away from the girl that was sitting alone at the first row. She had a long blond hair, bright blue eyes and whiskered cheeks. The girl looked at him and giggled.

"Shikamaru, you're blocking the way," Choji said.

His eyes widened and he said, "Sorry." With that he sat beside the girl as Choji took the last place at the table. "I'm Nara Shikamaru," he introduced himself to the girl.

"And I'm Akamichi Choji," his friend said.

The girl smiled and said cheerily, "My name is Uzumaki Mito."

* * *

I don't have much time for this story, since I have Hermione Granger and the Prince of Serpents/Harry Potter and the Burning Hells to complete and these are very long stories. But I'll try to write a chapter every now and then.


	2. Chapter 2

Since the other stories progress kind of slowly right now, I decided to do something different and write the second chapter for this story.

* * *

**THE MASTER OF SHADOWS**

**by CreatorZorah**

**Chapter 2**

Shikamaru didn't know how it was possible. He had always assumed that there would be Naruto, but, perhaps there couldn't be two instances of him even if he lived the life of Shikamaru now. Instead of Naruto there was Mito and that was very bothersome, because now he couldn't even rely on his foreknowledge. Was Akatsuki still Akatsuki? Would Oto and Suna still invade the Konoha?

He shook his head and looked at Mito, who looked miserable because the instructor ignored her completely when she tried to ask questions. The village wasn't any friendlier towards the female jinchuuriki.

"Don't worry about the teacher. He's an idiot," Shikamaru whispered to her. "I'll explain it after the class."

The girl smiled brightly and said softly, "Thanks."

The Academy was boring. It had been boring for him and Shikamaru in the first lifetime and it got worse now when he knew everything the teacher wanted to explain. He sighed, what a waste of time... He closed his eyes and laid his head on the table. If not for his would-be friends he would just send a Shadow Clone to the Academy.

"Shikamaru!" the teacher exclaimed. "What's the fourth rule of shinobi?"

"A shinobi must always put the mission first," Shikamaru said lazily never opening his eyes.

The teacher obviously wasn't prepared to let him sleep. "And what does it mean?"

"It means that regardless the circumstance, a kidnapped teammate, for example, a shinobi must concentrate on the mission." He opened his eyes and looked at the teacher. "Is that an acceptable explanation, Hisoka-sensei?"

"Yes, thank you, Shikamaru."

He closed his eyes and thought about the Rookie Nine. They were still too young. The only person he could help was Mito and probably Choji. Hinata would be escorted home after the Academy by her clan's members for next three years. Sasuke would need friends after the Massacre if it would happen. Shikamaru knew that he didn't need to bother about Shino, the Aburame would grow strong anyway. Kiba, Ino and Sakura were still too immature.

After the classes Shikamaru left the Academy with Mito and Choji. He wanted to ask them if they wanted to train with him, but Mito was faster, saying, "The old man promised to eat ramen with me, do you want to come with me?"

"Of course!" Shikamaru and Choji answered at the same time. Shikamaru even in the second lifetime loved ramen. As for Choji... he just loved to eat.

"Great!" Mito exclaimed dragging both boys to the very familiar ramen stand.

Shikamaru remembered this day well, the old man had eaten with him ramen after the first day of Academy too. But unlike Mito he hadn't made any friends on the first day. He had begun to hang out with Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba much later. During his first years he had been a loner because the teachers had always singled him out somehow.

Sarutobi Hiruzen waited for them at the ramen stand. It was the first time he saw the Hokage in his second lifetime. He was younger than Shikamaru remembered, but the smile on his face was just as warm.

"Hey, old man!" Mito exclaimed causing Shikamaru to smile. She was just like him.

"Hello, Mito-chan," Hokage said and asked, "And who are your friends?"

"These are Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Choji," she answered with a happy smile.

"Good day, Hokage-sama," both Choji and Shikamaru said.

"Hello, Shikamaru-kun, Choji-kun.I'm glad that you made some friends, Mito-chan," the old man said. "Now, let's hurry. There are only four free places at the stand."

Ayame was there, but she didn't work as a waitress yet. However Shikamaru was glad to see her again anyway. She and her father were one of the few people who had been kind to him from the beginning and not after he had defeated Nagato. They made their order, Shikamaru choosing a simple miso ramen

"Hey, old man, Shikamaru has the same whiskers as me!" Mito exclaimed. "That's cool, isn't it?"

"Really, Mito-chan?" Hokage said softly. He obviously knew about Shikamaru's condition.

"Perhaps we're related," she suggested hopefully.

"I doubt that," Hokage told her.

Mito huffed and continued to eat her ramen.

Shikamaru never liked that Hokage hadn't told him about Kyuubi until he learned about it from the traitor. The whole village knew about it. And children imitated the behaviour of their parents. What was the reason to keep it secret from Mito? So, he decided to ask, "Does Mito have the same problems with her chakra?"

"Chatra?" the girl asked. "What's wrong with my chatra?"

"There is nothing wrong with your chakra, Mito-chan," Hokage said and looked at Shikamaru. "And no, she doesn't have the same problem as you, Shikamaru-kun."

Shikamaru suddenly got very interested in eating his ramen, because the look the old man had given him was... scary. As for Choji, he hadn't probably even heard their conversation eating his bowl of ramen. Soon they finished their meal and Shikamaru wasn't really surprised when Hokage decided to walk him home.

"Bye, Shikamaru!" Mito said heading home with Choji.

"See you tommorow," Shikamaru said. He sighed and followed the leader of their village.

After a few minutes of silence the Hokage said, "Please refrain from talking about your problems with chakra, Shikamaru-kun."

"Yes, old... I mean Hokage-sama," he said causing Hokage to laugh.

"I see Mito has already influenced the manner of your speaking," Hokage said.

"Probably," Shikamaru agreed with a smile. "But, Hokage-sama, I know that the whiskers are manifestation of my weird chakra problems."

"That they are," Hokage said. "But it's better left unsaid in public for your own good."

"Does it have something to do with the way people glaring at her?"

"Your father is right. You're very smart for a six years old." Hokage let out a sigh. "Yes, that has everything to do with it. And they would do the same to you if they knew. But before you ask further question, let me warn you that it's a S-rank secret we're talking about."

"But the secret is useless seeing as the whole village obviously knows about Mito," Shikamaru noted.

"Your generation doesn't," Hokage said.

"Children have eyes and ears," Shikamaru argued. "No one needs to talk about the secret in order to give the children an idea that Mito has some sort of stigma. I bet that not knowing why everyone treats you badly is very frustrating."

Hokage didn't answer immediately, instead he looked at the Hokage Mountain for a few seconds. "Perhaps you're right, Shikamaru-kun, but the matter is very serious and she isn't as mature as you. I don't want her to know about it before she becomes a shinobi. And you shouldn't speak of it. Do you understand, Shikamaru-kun?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. But may I help her? If her problems are similar then she probably has the same problems with chakra control."

"Of course," Hokage said with a smile. "As long as you don't tell her about the problem."

"Thanks, old man... I mean, Hokage-sama." Goodness, he already hated this habit of calling him that.

_**Eighteen months later**_

"Caught you!" Shikamaru exclaimed happily as his shadow got Mito.

Using Shadow Clones he managed to improve his chakra control immensely and since then he was constantly training in manipulating shadows. It was two exercises at the same time. Since the clan techniques were nothing other than a very precise chakra control. Yin-Yang Release. The shadows were just illusions that became real.

The next moment 'Mito' puffed out of the existence and the girl's fist smashed to his chin only to release Shikamaru's clone. He was 'taught' the Shadow Clone technique by his father and then he taught it to Mito. Their spars were quite annoying since both of them could use Shadow Clones and one could never tell if Shikamaru and Mito were the real ones or not. That's why they decided to limit the use of clones to five a spar.

"Unfair!" Mito shouted out being caught with another shadow. "It was the sixth!"

Shikamaru smiled. "The clone you seemingly destroyed at the beginning was just an illusion. I used it to confuse you."

"It's unfair that you can use the normal clones," she complained.

"Life is unfair." Shikamaru shrugged. "Besides you have much more chakra than me and I'm not complaining."

The girl sighed. "At least I defeated Choji today," Mito said.

"He was hungry and wanted to get home faster," Shikamaru noted smiling.

"A win is a win," she said. "By the way, Shikamaru, did you master those techniques, those that make your shadows tangible?"

"Not yet," Shikamaru said shaking his head and decided to demonstrate. His shadow began to rise into the air and form a hand. "I'm still too slow and it's only semi-solid."

"Cool," she whispered touching the shadow hand. "But you're almost there."

"Yeah," he agreed, lay down the ground and looked at the sky.

"I still can't believe that Sasuke refused your offer to train with us."

Shikamaru sighed. He tried to befriend Sasuke, but the git had a major pole in his arse. He didn't want to acknowledge that Shikamaru was better than him. And since Shikamaru couldn't find any way to resolve the matter of Uchiha clan peacefully, his family would be soon killed by Itachi. It was most troubling, but as an Academy student he couldn't hope to have any influence over the situation.

Besides he was still too weak. He would need all the time until graduation to perfect the chakra control. It was probably the hardest fight of his life. The fight against himself. He had to train every day just to maintain his level of chakra control, as his chakra reserves were still growing, but to improve it he had to work like Lee. The same could be said for Mito. Unlike Itach or Kakashi both Shikamaru, Choji and Mito were late bloomers just because of their physiology.

But they could work hard so that by the time they graduated, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

"Forget about him," Shikamaru said.

"But it's boring just with three of us," she said lying down beside him.

"Really? So I and Choji are boring."

"When you begins to watch clouds, just like right now, you're boring."

He smiled. "Clouds are fascinating. Besides I manipulate shadows while watching clouds."

"It's still boring." She paused. "Do you think they'll place us on the same team?"

"Nah, they'll probably split us," he answered. "Don't be troublesome, it's still years away, since they don't allow early graduation at the moment."

In his first timeline that had changed after the invasion. Too many died that day and Konoha needed more shinobi. Shikamaru was determined to change that. He was quite sure now that there would be Uchiha Massacre again, he could see that the thing had spiraled out of control and it was too late to do anything, but the Invasion. He would either stop it completely or minize the losses. Somehow. If his foreknowledge had any power.

"Why do you think they'll split us?" Mito asked.

"We're too similar," he answered.

And they were. Alone with their chakra reserves they were powerful, but with the way Shikamaru intended to use shadows and Yin-Yang Release in general he was sure that he would be a powerhouse by the time of the graduation. And using the natural chakra, he would be an S-rank ninja. Mito with her mastery of shape and nature transformation wouldn't be any weaker if she would learn to control the natural chakra.

But right now he had to convince the others from the Rookie Nine to join. Everyone needed to grow stronger.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I'm back with another chapter. Don't worry that the story is fast paced. I just don't like the stories about the main characters' childhood. Read&Review! :)

Well, I guess, I will delete rants of guest reviewers, because it doesn't make sense to read reviews without any mean to respond. Sorry. If you write something like this, either you write it logged-in or not at all. That's my policy.

* * *

**THE MASTER OF SHADOWS**

**by CreatorZorah**

**Chapter 3**

**A month later**

Ino wasn't the most serious student of the Academy and she didn't really bothered to hone her skills. However being a daughter of one of the strongest ninja in the village she knew what would be expected of her. But she wanted to stay a child and have fun as long as she could. Lately though her father had begun to worry about her and she had been forced to get more serious.

Ino didn't understand why her father asked her to begin training with this group of losers. They were the dead-lasts. They constantly slacked off at the Academy and weren't any strong in the spars. But father didn't want to hear her arguments.

"My father said that I should train with you," she said standing before Shikamaru, Mito and Choji.

"Great!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "At last there is four of us!"

"We'll make her strong in no time!" Mito agreed.

Choji looked completely uninterested munching crisps.

"I don't even know what the group of losers can teach me," Ino said.

"What?" Mito exclaimed and frowned. "If she doesn't want, then maybe..."

Shikamaru smacked playfully Mito at the head and said, "Ino, if we slack off at the Academy, it means only that it's boring. Just spar with Mito and you'll understand."

"Like the dead-last like her cans beat me," Ino boasted as Mito silently glared at her.

"We don't show our real strength at the Academy," Shikamaru said, walking with Choji away from two girls. "You may start."

Ino looked at Mito, but she didn't even look interested in fighting the Yamanaka. Mito looked bored. Ino frowned and darted at the girl hoping to defeat her quickly and go home. However, when she got closer and tried to punch, Mito vanished and a moment later she felt a blade of Mito's kunai at her throat. Ino was stunned, the dead-last girl moved so fast that it was impossible for Ino to track her movements.

"Dead," Mito whispered.

"Show off," muttered Shikamaru.

Mito grinned happily and exclaimed, "Now who is the dead-last?"

Father was right. She turned to Shikamaru and said, "Okay, I take my words back. What should I do to beat her?"

Shikamaru smiled and said, "We'll begin with chakra control exercises."

"Why don't you show the real strength at the Academy?" Ino asked.

"Well, some students know about it. Shino, for example. We asked him train with us, but he refused. He trains, however, a lot since then with his clan members to get closer to our level. He'll be fine. I beat Sasuke's arse, but the git refused to acknowledge it. Shizuka knows, but I can't beat her shyness out of her to get her train with us She'll probably won't make it through the program. Soon we'll invite Kiba. I asked my father to talk to your father so that he would talk you into joining us, because I think you're mature enough to understand what shinobi are. "

"Once teachers had noticed it," Shikamaru continued, "And had notified Hokage, we were asked to not show our abilities at the Academy. Other students are still immature, some of them are from civilian families. Probably, they would be just scared off by our strength and drop out. Earlier such situations could be avoided by early graduations. Besides we aren't that strong yet. Not like real prodigies, you know? I and Mito won't be able to perfect our chakra control until we're twelve. Choji won't be able to use his clan techniques at all until he's ten."

"Can you move as fast as Mito?" Ino asked. Shikamaru nodded and the blond continued, "Choji too?"

"Yes," Choji answered, "But I'm weaker than Mito and Shikamaru."

"Don't listen to him," Shikamaru said. "His punches are ten times stronger than ours, while he's almost as fast. Besides his chakra control is much better and that makes him more powerful than two of us."

"You mention the chakra control so much..." Ino muttered. Being a daughter of a very strong shinobi she knew that it was important, but not to the point.  
"Because it's the most important skill," Shikamaru exclaimed.

"Yeah! Once I prefect the chakra control I'll take the hat from the old man!" Mito exclaimed.

Ino eyed her in confusion. "The old man?"

"Hokage!"

Shikamaru smiled and continued. "And if you train with us, you have to be prepared to do chakra control exercises for at least four hours a day."

"What?" Ino shrieked. "Four hours a day for chakra control exercises? Do you even strength to do anything else after that?"

"Eh... It's not like we do it without a break," Shikamaru said leaving out that he and Mito were doing exercises almost always even at the Academy.

"But that's stupid, how can you improve doing only chakra control exercises?"

"As you see, you can improve," Mito reminded her of the defeat.

Yamanaka sighed and nodded. "Right."

**Two weeks later**

Kiba wasn't the best student of the Academy. He found it extremely boring and the only exciting thing about the Academy were sparing sessions. He enjoyed a good fight, but hated learning boring stuff. That's why a year ago he had tried to slack off along with Shikamaru, Mito and Choji. But when he had learned about their training regimen, he had decided to sit at the Academy.

Now he regretted this decision. Unlike many others he could see the three held back in the spars. It was annoying as hell, but he knowing nothing about their true strength he had assumed that they weren't very strong. But then Ino had joined them and two weeks later beat Kiba to a pulp.

That's why he stood at one of the Nara's private training grounds behind the trees and watched the group consisting of four Academy students doing chakra control exercises. He wouldn't be able to get here if not for Shikamaru's father who had let him in. He sighed and walked to the four. Ino and Choji were climbing trees using their feet only, while Shikamaru and Mito lay on the ground talking about something.

"Hey," he said. "I guess, I'll be training with you from now on."

Mito jumped to her feet and exclaimed, "Yeah! We're five now!"

"Mito, you're too loud," Shikamaru complained standing up. He glanced at Kiba and nodded. "Welcome."

**Another two weeks later.**

Sasuke wasn't sure why he came here. He had very conflicting feelings about this training group. He always believed that Uchiha were the strongest and he didn't need any help from outside. But being completely outmatched by Ino of all people made him doubt his beliefs. If the fan-girl could get this good in such a short time, could they help him get stronger as well? Sasuke desperately wanted to get stronger, because he wanted to impress his father and Itachi.

"Just go straight there," Shikaku Nara said.

"Thank you," Uchiha said and walked towards the training ground.

When he got there he stopped. The sight before him was really weird. Ino walking on water, Kiba walking up the tree defying gravity, Choji giving a punch to a huge stone and breaking it into many pieces, Shikamaru, shadows dancing around him and a hundred of Mito's clones doing some weird stuff with leaves.

"Will you just stand there?" Shikamaru asked at last.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment and then walked to Shikamaru. "I've decided to accept your invitation."

"Good," Shikamaru said.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke instinctively cringed and stepped aside, expecting Ino to jump onto him, but much to his relief she just walked to him and said, a huge grin on her face, "You fell for it."

"Hn." Sasuke glared at her trying to hide his embarrassment.

Ino smiled and elbowed Shikamaru, saying, "I guess, my arse-kicking works better than yours, Shikamaru."

"Sasuke-kun!" This time Sasuke didn't move refusing to fall for the same trick twice. And regretted it when he found himself lying on the ground with Sakura hugging the hell out of him.

"I believe, we're seven now," Choji said, munching crisps, while Sasuke tried to free himself from Sakura's evil clutches.

"You're awesome, Ino!" Mito exclaimed with awe in her voice. "Not even a month with us and you've dragged three people into the group."

"Of course I'm awesome!" Ino boasted.

"But Mito-chan still kicks your arse all the time," Kiba noted.

"What did you say there, Kiba?" Ino said rubbing her fists.

"Eh... I have to get back to training," he said and darted towards a tree.

"Anyway," Shikamaru said placing his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Welcome."

**Two months later**

Shikamaru knew that it would be difficult for Sasuke and he was glad that he had joined the group in time to befriend everyone. Shikamaru wished he could have talked to Itachi, but he hadn't been able. The boy had been an ANBU and that meant that the Uchiha was practically unrecognizable all the time. And the only time Shikamaru had talked to him while accompanying Sasuke, Shikamaru had realized that he hadn't known what to tell Itachi. Shikamaru wasn't supposed to know anything and he doubted that the status of the clan's heir would help him in case Danzo had decided to eliminate the problem.

Shikamaru and everyone else from the group came to the Hospital to visit Sasuke the day when visits were allowed, two weeks after he had woken up after Tsukuyomi induced coma. They entered his room and walked up to his bed. Sasuke lie in his bed looking at the ceiling.

"Hey, Sasuke," Mito said softly.

"We're sorry for your loss," Ino said.

"Just leave me alone," he responded weakly.

"The hell we will!" Kiba exclaimed. "You're one of us and we won't leave you."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a minute. Then suddenly he said, "I need to get stronger. Will you help me?"

"Together we will become strong," Shikamaru assured him. "Just get better and we'll be there for you."

"Thanks," Uchiha said and closed his eyes. "I'm tired."

"We'll try to come every day, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. "Get better."

Soon they left and for a few minutes remained silent before Kiba said, "How is it possible that a single shinobi kills off the whole clan of this power?"

"Uchiha Itachi is a very powerful shinobi," Shikamaru answered. "Even Hokage would have to struggle against him if..."

"No way!" Mito exclaimed. "The old man is the strongest shinobi!"

"I didn't say that Itachi would defeat him," Shikamaru explained.

"But that's insane," Sakura whispered. "I thought he was only thirteen."

"He is," Shikamaru said. "But the age means nothing in the shinobi world. You should know that, Sakura."

"Still, the clan had a lot of ninja," Kiba pressed.

"He was one of them, Kiba. He knew exactly when, whom and how to strike. Besides, he could have had some help."

"I just don't understand, what kind of crazy bastard one should be to kill his own family?" Kiba said and Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Who knows?" Shikamaru said softly. He couldn't judge him. Itachi was much too young to face the dilemma that could break almost anyone. To think that he had done it and retained sanity. "Let's get stronger so that we would be able to protect the precious people once it's needed."

* * *

A/N: And no, the characters aren't OP. They are OP in the canon. The whole 4th Shinobi War is completely ridiculous.

Since one of the reviewers is worried about them being OP, you should think about Itachi, Kakashi, Jiraiya and other characters that have become genin at the ages of 4-8. Konoha's Nine are rather exceptional ninja since they progress very fast after the graduation. As for tree climbing and water walking exercises... Naruto who had absolutely no chakra control and had a very difficult time to learn it, because of his huge reserves, managed to do it in only few days. Sakura didn't need to learn it at all. Why would everyone else be any different? They're aren't any less talented than Kakashi. The most of them.

Danzo's ninja can't become kage-level shinobi, because they lack personality. No emotions, not drive to get strong. No individuality. They're puppets.

Sorry but your rant makes absolutely no sense.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I know it's a bit boring with all these timeskips, but I had to bring Konoha's Nine together before beginning with the actual story. It's like a prologue. Read&Review! :)

I'm not sure who I want to pair Shikamaru with, so I created a poll. **Please vote! :)**

* * *

**THE MASTER OF SHADOWS**

**by CreatorZorah**

**Chapter 4**

**Eight months later**

Hinata left the Academy and for the first time she wasn't met by a clan member. She looked down at her hands, tears were falling down on them. Yesterday she had lost her spar to four years old Hanabi and her fate had been sealed. She was a failure that wasn't deemed worthy of being a heiress.

She had worked so hard and still couldn't help but lose to Hanabi, just because she couldn't collect herself in front of her father. His expectations were so high, that seemed almost unreachable. She struggled to meet his expectations, but had always failed under the pressure.

"Hey, Hinata." She quickly dried her eyes with her sleeve and spun around.

"Shikamaru-san?"

Shikamaru smiled at her and asked, "Do you want to train with us? I mean me, Mito, Ino, Kiba, Sasuke, Choji and Sakura. We would have asked you earlier, but you had been always going home after the Academy with your clan members."

Hinata hesitated. "Why would you want me to train with you?"

"I think you're great," Shikamaru said with a grin on his face that somehow reminded her of Uzumaki Mito.

She blushed feeling grateful for his words. "I'm not."

"You are," Shikamaru argued. "You work hard and your taijutsu is brilliant. And what most important, you're serious about your skills. We help each other to become stronger in the group. Perhaps you noticed that Ino and Sakura changed in the last months."

"Yes. They've got more... mature and stronger. Were they training with you?"

Shikamaru nodded. "We can't teach you much, obviously. As a Hyuuga you already do lots of chakra control exercises and we can't teach you clan techniques. However we would make sure that you'd have people to talk to or to ask for an advice. You'd always have someone to hone your skills in spars or just to do lots of funny things. Are you interested?"

Of course she was! No one would be training her seriously at the clan compound from now. Shikamaru's offer was the only opportunity to get stronger and maybe to prove her father that she could get strong, that she was worthy, that she wasn't a failure.

"Yes... Yes, I'm interested!"

"Great!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "Let's go then, the others are waiting for us already."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Now?"

"Of course," he said and took her hand. "Or you have something else to do?"

Her blush deepened and she let him drag herself to Nara's private training ground where she met the other members of Shikamaru's group.

"Welcome, Hinata," Shikamaru said and turned to the group. "We're eight now."

* * *

**Six months later. Two years until the graduation.**

Shikamaru watched as Shizuka left the classroom and followed her. She was one of the students who hadn't made it through the ninja Academy in his first lifetime. Shikamaru hadn't even noticed her in his first lifetime. The girl had always been quiet, shy and very reserved. But in this lifetime he had noticed her, because he noticed her skills.

"Shizuka-san, please wait," he said catching up to her.

She stopped, turned around and looked at him without saying a word.

"You're giving up, aren't you?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

Shizuka shrugged. He was the only person she interacted with. However he couldn't remember her speaking a word to him or other students.

"It's just a pity. You could be very strong, you know?"

She gave him a weak smile and for the first time he hear her speaking, "I can't be kunoichi, Shikamaru-kun. Thank you."

With that she turned around and headed away from the Academy. Shikamaru sighed wondering if he had done something wrong with he girl. She was strong, stronger than Ino, Hinata and Sakura. And he couldn't understand why she was quiting.

"Her body is failing." He turned to his left and saw Shino standing beside him looking at Shizuka. "Why? Because she never had a body to be a kunoichi and still pushed herself too far."

Shikamaru paled and said, "She was killing herself by intense trainings."

Shino nodded. "Illogical behaviour. Hokage should be informed that a student has been accepted into the Academy despite her inability to be a ninja. Why? Because the one who is responsible for it should be punished for neglecting responsibilities."

"I agree," Shikamaru said, wishing to beat up the bastard who had allowed it. "I'll inform my parents. They know better than me how to proceed."

Shino nodded.

"Shino... I know, I've already asked, but do you want to join our group?" Shikamaru asked.

"Asking you to allow me to join was my intention when I went after you. Why, you ask? Because I've mastered everything I needed in order to not be a burden."

Shikamaru smiled. "You wouldn't be a burden anyway."

"I don't agree," Shino objected.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Anyway, welcome to our group, Shino. Will you join us today?"

"Yes, if it's possible," Shino said.

"Then let's go."

At least their group was complete now. Konoha's Nine was whole once again. Two years earlier and much more powerful than before. Everyone was ready to take final graduation exam as well as participate in Chunin Selection Exams. Of course they needed some field work experience, but team work was already there, strength too. He and Mito would probably be of jounin strength if they had been able to bring their chakra under control. But they had time.

* * *

**A year later. A year until the graduation.**

Transformation technique. That's what Shikamaru was working on since he had mastered his chakra control. During his first lifetime as Naruto, he didn't think much about this technique. It worked and was useful, that was all he had needed to know. A transformation wasn't an illusion, but it wasn't real either. Just like his shadows, the transformation technique warped the reality, making the illusions real.

During his days as Naruto, he wouldn't be able to comprehend it, but thankfully Shikamaru's brain was doing a better job. It still was quite hard to copy that being transformed in a kunai, he would exist in two forms at time. A human in his own reality and a kunai for the outside world. Duality of existence was a difficult concept.

The technique came directly from the Sage of Six Paths and only a few ninja knew how it worked despite using it often. Akamichi used the transformation technique as basis for their techniques. They had mastered and changed the technique to create their unique clan techniques.

Through learning his clan techniques Shikamaru gained a lot of experience at working with chakra directly. His clansmen couldn't progress at the same speed as he was just because they didn't have enough chakra to do so. The process of new non-elemental techniques creation was painfully slow and a regular ninja would need decades to create a single technique. But he was different, he could manipulate his shadows every minute of the day without exhausting himself.

But the shadows were only a small part of endless possibilities of reality warping. Theoretically one could do anything using chakra. Just like the Sage of Six Paths, but in practice he still wasn't even nearly there to do something like that. Shikamaru needed some foundation to construct new reality warping techniques on top of it. The transformation technique was the ideal choice.

Along with his favourite Shadow Clone technique. Combining shadow clones with his shadow manipulation could be very interesting. He wondered if he could combine shadows with Rasengan. His eyes widened: why not? He created twenty clones to work on the technique and continued to think about the transformation.

"Hey, what are your clones doing?"

Shikamaru looked up and saw Mito and Ino who were looking at the group of his clones trying to form a Shadow Rasengan.

"Just an idea I've got," he answered.

"Mind to elaborate?" Ino rasied her eyebrow.

"Eblaroba-ba... what?" Mito asked in confusion.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and answered, "It's the technique I and Mito recreated together."

"The Fourth's?" Ino asked. "Rasengan?"

"Yes, but I'm trying to incorporate shadows instead of using pure chakra," Shikamaru answered.

"That's awesome!" Mito exclaimed before frowning. "But I can't use it, can I?"

"Well, your chakra control is still lacking," Shikamaru said. "Once you're ready you can incorporate wind or water chakra instead of shadows."

"And what this new technique should do?" Kiba asked. Now the entire group was looking at the clones with interest.

"I'm not sure," Shikamaru said. "I use corporeal shadows, just like when I use shadows to form Shadow Spears. But anyway, don't come close to the clones, it might get dangerous."

"I can help," Sasuke suggested, his eyes red from active Sharingan.

"I can as well," Hinata offered glaring at Uchiha with activated Byakugan.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Troublesome," he muttered. He had no idea where was it coming from but strangely Sasuke and Hinata had silently proclaimed each other rivals. "Don't bother. I'll just get it done by trial and error."

Their group was very tight-knit. Sure, Sasuke and Hinata would often glare at each other, Ino and Sakura would fight each other out of habit, but they were really close. Shikamaru couldn't be any more happy to see Sasuke in this group, not that he removed that pole out of his arse.

It came to no surprise that Sasuke progressed the most in their group, closely followed by Hinata. Excluding Mito, of course. Besides Shikamaru and Mito, no one could use Rasengan, not through lack of trying, however. Sasuke had tried to learn it, but soon realized that he didn't have enough chakra to use it effectively. Hinata had been forced to give up on the technique as well. That's when their rivalry started. They both began to work on their own techniques that would emulate Rasengan. And though overall Sasuke was stronger, being close to jonin-level, it had gotten worse when Hinata, who still was only a chunin-level kunoichi, had created her technique before Sasuke.

It had been obvious for Shikamaru that she would be the first to success. Some of her clan techniques were similar and she had found a way to discharge highly compressed chakra out of her palms. It wasn't as powerful as Rasengan, but in combination with her Byakugan, the technique was lethal.

Sasuke hadn't gotten the technique yet, but he was very close. It was the bastardized version of the Third Raikage's Hell Stab. When Sasuke had asked Shikamaru for an advice, Shikamaru had remembered his fight against the Third Raikage and had tried to explain to Sasuke how it worked. He would tell him about Kakashi's technique, but that would be very suspicious. Unlike Raikage's technique, Kakashi's was very complex. Being lightning-affined, Sasuke was training hard to master his lightning transformation and the technique itself.

Sakura along Ino were successfully learning medical techniques after they had been apprenticed at the Konoha Hospital. For Sakura it was the main specialization, genjutsu being the second. Ino on the other hand was mainly focused on her clan techniques. Despite their training they only barely were chunin-level. Their techniques still needed a lot of hard work they, fortunately, were ready to do.

Kiba and Shino were both chunin-level shinobi. They were considerably strong, but lacked a diverse arsenal of techniques. However they were good trackers and Shikamaru had no doubt that in a year they would be strong enough.

Choji, who had started earlier than everyone had only fallen back behind Sasuke. Mostly because he only had started to learn his clan techniques recently. He had monstrous strength in a close combat and he was very fast, something that only few would expect from a shinobi of his build.

And lastly Mito. Unlike Shikamaru she hadn't perfected her chakra control, but she was very close. It was, however, enough to be a solid jonin-level kunoichi. Utilizing her immense amounts of chakra for training, she was close to mastering wind and water elements, knew lots of nature based techniques and was overall a very powerful ninja.

* * *

A/N: In the next chapter: graduation! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Like I said, I'll delete all negative guest reviews, because I don't want to talk about them within the story. Anyway, the Anonymous, thanks for the typo, though less arrogant reviews are always welcome. No one in the story is overpowered besides Shikamaru. But he is a time traveler. Doesn't count. Since when are 12 yo chunin-level ninja are overpowered in the Narutoverse? :)

* * *

**THE MASTER OF SHADOWS**

**by CreatorZorah**

**Chapter 5**

Sarutobi Hiruzen had seen a lot in his long life. Being a Hokage for a few dozen years made him watch countless ninja grow strong or die. However the bunch of rookies was very unusual. It was the time of peace and the age of graduation was higher to allow the kids to develop a healthy psychic. Therefore he didn't expect to have rookies to be this strong.

He hummed and looked up at Shikaku who was waiting for Hiruzen to tell him why the Jonin Commander had been called. Next to him stood Minami Maho, the medic-nin that had taught Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata.

"As you know, yesterday was the graduation day," Hiruzen said. "And the newest bunch of rookies is very interesting."

"Ah, it's about the squad my son has formed around himself, isn't it?" Shikaku asked.

Hokage hummed. "Yes," he answered. "I need your help to form teams."

"We have three medics, I'd say that each team has to have a medic," Maho said hurriedly causing the Hokage to smile. That was something Tsunade would say.

"I agree," the Hokage said.

"Ino has to be paired with Shikamaru, their techniques are complementary," Shikaku suggested. "Hyuuga Hinata would do well on the same team with Uchiha Sasuke because of their rivalry and considerably equal strength."

"Wouldn't the rivalry disrupt their teamwork?" the Hokage asked inhaling on his pipe.

"No, it's a healthy rivalry. They care for each other," Shikaku answered. "Uzumaki Mito and Shikamaru are both very strong, I would suggest to place them on one team to allow them progress even further together."

"You suggest to place Akamichi Choji on the different team?" Maho asked, knowing too well about the famous Ino-Shika-Cho team.

"Shikamaru isn't the usual Nara," Shikaku explained. "We aren't direct fighters, but he can be one. Choji will grow strong, but he won't be able to keep up with Shikamaru."

The Hokage glanced at Maho and asked, "What can you say about their medical proves?"

"Sakura is the best student, followed by Hinata. Ino invests less time in her medical training," the medic-nin answered.

"Good, then we have the first team. Neither Shikamaru nor Mito needs a good medic-nin in the team, considering their higher than normal healing rate. Let's find teammates for Haruno Sakura then."

"It should be either Inuzuka Kiba or Choji," Shikaku said. "They both are direct fighters. However Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba are trackers. If we separate them, we'll have three balanced universal teams."

Hiruzen hummed and breathed our a cloud of smoke. Now he had to decide on team leaders.

* * *

Shikamaru walked to the Academy with a grin on his face, wondering who was his placed on the team with. Beside him was Mito, who had an identical grin on her face. Onlookers would probably wonder if the two recent Academy graduates weren't siblings considering that they both had whiskers on top of it.

But Shikamaru was thinking about Mizuki. He had remembered about him at the exam, when he had realized that instead of the traitor there had been another teacher. As it turned out, Mizuki was the one responsible for the Shizuka's case. Shikamaru wasn't sure what had happened to the traitor later.

They turned the corner and saw the rest of their group. Three were missing, however, but Shikamaru didn't worry about Maito Gai's team. Lee had been insanely strong at taijutsu even without help and there was nothing Shikamaru could do to help Lee. Neji was strong, but had a very weird personality. As for Tenten, her body wouldn't allow her to become very strong, but she solved the problem by choosing a single specialization that allowed her to be considerably strong. Besides she needed time to properly learn fuinjutsu anyway.

"They have to be related," Kiba said.

"Yeah, the resemblance of their grins is uncanny," Sakura agreed.

"Hokage said they're not, but I somehow doubt that," Choji said munching his snack.

"Oh, shut up," Shikamaru said. "We'll be late for team assignment."

And so the group entered the Academy, walked into their classroom and took their seats. Shikamaru looked around and sighed. The room had completely different atmosphere than the first time. Well, there was still a number of fan girls fawning over Sasuke, but neither Ino nor Sakure were among them. Umino Iruka appeared a few minutes later and began to tell them exactly the same things like the last time.

"Beginning today all of you are real ninjas, but you are still merely rookie genin. The hard part has just started." Iruka paused and looked at the students. "Now... you will soon be assigned duties by the village, so today we will be creating the three-man teams. Each team will have a jonin-sensei. You will follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties. We tried to balance each team's strength..."

Not the teacher had Shikamaru's full attention, but not before Iruka got to the team 7.

"...Team 7: Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba. Your jonin-sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team 8: Uzumaki Mito, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino. Your jonin-sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 10," continued Iruka. "Aburame Shino, Akamichi Choji, Haruno Sakura. The jonin-sensei is Sarutobi Asuma."

'Troublesome,' thought Shikamaru. He hoped to be on Kakashi's team. But he could see the logic. Nobody on Team 8 was good enough at genjutsu. By assigning her as a team leader the problem was solved. However, it was an uncomfortable feeling to know that the jonin-sensei was weaker than him. Even Mito was stronger, but his counterpart didn't have the experience, therefore he doubted that Mito would defeat the jonin. Besides she was bad at genjutsu, better than he had been, but against the genjutsu mistress the jinchuriki would lose.

When Iruka announced a break, everyone left the academy, but the Nine gathered in front of the Academy.

"So, what do you think about the teams?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's awesome!" Mito exclaimed. "We're all together and I'm on the same team as you."

"I wouldn't say it's awesome," Hinata said glaring at Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke turned away from her.

"Do you know something about jonins?" Kiba asked.

"Why do you think I know something?" Shikamaru said.

"Because you always know something," Ino said.

Shikamaru smiled. "Well, Hatake Kakashi is the last surviving student of the Fourth. I'd say he's the strongest out of the three jonins. He's very strong at ninjutsu." Then he turned to Sasuke and added, "Kakashi has a sharingan."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he asked, "How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure," Shikamaru answered. "Got it implanted, I guess. Anyway, Sarutobi Asuma is Hokage's son, was one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. He's strong at everything. Prefers wind ninjutsu and taijutsu that uses Chakra Blades. Yuuhi Kurenai is the best genjutsu specialist in the village, but her other skills are lacking. However she still can kick all of your arses even without genjutsu. Well, excluding Mito and probably Sasuke and Hinata."

"So, you're saying the three can take on me?" Shikamaru cringed and turned around. And, of course, Kurenai stood there looking at him quite annoyed. Probably because he had said that her skills were lacking. But she wasn't alone. She was a beauty. Pity that he had a child's body. He shook his head stopping the perverse chain of thoughts.

"Kids today..." Asuma said with a sigh.

"I didn't mean it to offend you," Shikamaru said sheepishly.

Kurenai hummed and said coldly, "We'll see how good you all are. Soon." With that the pair disappeared using a Body Flicker.

"You're screwed," Kiba noted barking with laughter.

"Troublesome women," Shikamaru muttered and ducked avoiding a kick from Ino.

"Why did you have to offend our jonin-sensei?" Ino groaned.

"I didn't," Shikamaru said. "Whatever. I want to meet all you at the known place this evening. There is much to talk about."

He planed to tell all of them the truth. Not the whole truth, of course, but the majority of it. He was very nervous doing it, but he was certain that they would keep it to themselves.

Mito is loyal to the bone and she would do anything for him. He gave her true friends. And he knew what it meant for the jinchuriki. Sasuke was just as loyal, because thanks to Shikamaru, the Uchiha had found in their group a new family and means to become really powerful. He was given a purpose to live for something besides revenge. The same for Hinata. They were her new family. Choji for various reasons wouldn't tell a soul either, he was just as loyal as Mito.

Kiba, being a member of Inuzuka clan had a very strong feeling of a pack. And the group was his pack. Knowing that Shikamaru had only the best intentions, he wouldn't betray them. Aburame were very lonely because people tended to fear them. They were creepy. That's why Shino was very thankful for allowing him to be a part of the group, where he found friends that didn't care for his bugs. Besides, he would see the logic and wouldn't tell anyone.

But Sakura, Ino were more troublesome. Sakura was thankful for helping her getting strong. Ino was too. They were very good friends. But was that enough for them to not tell their families or report to the Hokage? He was quite sure, however, that they wouldn't tell anyone because by doing that they would betray the whole group. Neither of them would want to become an outcast or destroy the Konoha Nine, now the Rookie Nine.

Two hours later Kurenai appeared in their classroom briefly and informed the team that they were to meet her at the fifth training ground. Apparently she wanted to test them right away. When they got there Kurenai was waiting for them.

"Now, you already know who I am, apparently," Kurenai said glaring at Shikamaru. "Do you know about the genin test?"

"Yes," the three nodded.

"Good. Then let's begin. If you weren't so full of yourself, I would give you a normal test, but seeing that you're so confident in your abilities, the test will be different," she said.

"That's your fault!" Ino exclaimed elbowing Shikamaru.

"Anyway," Kurenai continued. "You have to defeat me in order to become genin."

"What?" Ino exclaimed. "You're a jonin. You can't possibly expect that a rookie genin team would be able to defeat you, Kurenai-sensei."

"That would be the case if you weren't so overconfident," Kurenai explained. "It's a bad quality for a ninja. Treat it as if you've already failed the exam. I'm just giving you a chance to prove me wrong."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered lazily.

Shikamaru wondered if she knew about their abilities. No one besides his father and Hokage knew about it, but Hokage could tell her. Was she serious, or was it just a part of the test? He knew that if she would use high-level genjutsu, Mito and Ino would probably be taken out quite fast. It was a very troublesome situation. He couldn't just assume that she was bluffing. She could very much tell the truth. That's why, they had to win, but if they'd win, it would embarrass Kurenai. A dilemma.

"Begin," Kurenai commanded.

She immediately cast a genjutsu on them. Shikamaru just shrugged it off. His mind and chakra control were too good to be caught in this genjutsu. Ino struggled for a few moments, but fought the illusion off too. Mito, however, began to scream before Ino released her from genjutsu. But both of her teammates noticed the haunted look on Mito's face. She saw something very disturbing. Shikamaru remained calm, because he had shrugged the illusion off before he could understand it. But seeing Ino's face reddening as she was seething in rage told him that Kurenai had used something very unpleasant.

However, he knew that it was quite weak illusion, if she would go all out neither Ino not Mito wouldn't be able to fight it. He couldn't let Kurenai get Ino and Mito under another illusion.

"Calm down," Shikamaru said looking unblinkingly at the jonin. Then he signaled with their secret code, "_Mito, Ino use my shadow._"

The next moment Mito and Ino jumped to Shikamaru's shadow and much to Kurenai's surprise disappeared inside of it, as the shadow began to split and stretch in every direction connecting to other shadows. No one in his clan would be able to do something like this. No one would have enough chakra. But he easily created a network of shadows that covered entire training ground.

Shikamaru couldn't help but grin at astonished expression on Kurenai's face. It was his version of Hirashin, and the jonin understood it as Ino and Mito began to appear in random places using taijustu and throwing kunai, forcung the jonin on defensive.

Kurenai did the only right thing that was available to her. It was now impossible to get Ino and Mito under genjutsu while they were hiding in his shadows, and they were fast enough, so that Kurenai was unable to counterattack them. But Shikamaru stood unmoving and she had assumed that he had to stay still. She used some strong genjutsu on him, but to her surprise it didn't work on him, so she attacked him using taijutsu.

And there was another surprise waiting for her. He didn't dodge as she kicked him only to be paralyzed herself. The figure she had thought to be Shikamaru transformed into black threads that winded around her leaving her no means to escape. Behind her Shikamaru appeared out of the shadow network along with his team and released his shadows, leaving, however, Kurenai bound by his shadow threads.

"We won," he said simply.

"How?" Kurenai asked. "What was this technique?"

"It was a Dark Clone. I would call it a Shadow Clone, but there are clones with the name. It's a mix between a simple Transformation and my clan techniques. I went inside of my shadow at the same time as Ino and Mito leaving the Dark Clone in my place."

Kurenai closed her eyes and sighed. "Alright, you pass."

Shikamaru nodded and released her and suddenly felt awkward, knowing that she was probably feeling useless defeated by a team of rookie genin.

Probably, his thoughts appeared on his face and Kurenai said, "Don't worry about it. Your father and Hokage informed me about your abilities. I'm aware that you're of jonin strength." Then she frowned and added, "But it's still embarrassing."

"Why did you use that genjutsu on Mito?" Ino demanded quite angrily.

"Ino," Shikamaru said. "It was a fight. Better our jonin-sensei than a enemy."

Yamanaka huffed. "But still, it was a very cruel genjutsu, forcing us to see our worst and deepest fears."

"It's alright," Mito said looking down.

At that the jonin looked apologetic. "It was a part of the test. I was told that the main reason I was assigned to this particular team because you're the worst team at genjutsu. I had to know how good you handle it."

"Well, you could ask. I can detect and disrupt anything up to B-rank and some of A-rank illusions," Shikamaru said. "Ino is not bad at casting them, but it's not her forte. She can't detect A-rank ones. Mito, well, she's bad at illusions and you'll have to work on it with her."

"Am I right that you hid them in the shadows to prevent me getting them under genjutsu?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes," Shikamaru answered.

But at the same time Ino said, "No, it's because he's a show off."

Kurenai smiled. "As we're now a team, let me treat you to dinner. Any suggestions?"

"Ramen!" both Shikamaru and Mito exclaimed at the same time.


End file.
